RAPAPORT... Chinese diamond companies will send large stones for
polishing at a new manufacturing facility in Israel, the Middle East nation’s
industry body said.

Bourses in the two countries reached the agreement this
week during a visit to Israel by Lin Qiang, president of the Shanghai Diamond
Exchange (SDE) (pictured, right). The new factory is due to open in
January at the next International Diamond Week in Israel.

The deal is part of a wider memorandum of understanding (MoU)
Qiang signed with Yoram Dvash, his counterpart at the Israel Diamond Exchange
(IDE)
(left).
Under that MoU, the two nations’ diamond industries will also make offices and
other trading spaces available for each other to use, and allow joint
participation in educational courses, the Israel Diamond Institute (IDI) said
Wednesday. Both sides will also help each other develop their diamond
industries.

“This is a very unusual situation, whereby Chinese
diamantaires will send their large diamonds to be polished in Israel,” Dvash
said. “It is testimony to the well-known expertise of the Israeli polishers and
the technological advances of the industry here.”

Israel’s polishing sector has dwindled as lower costs have helped India increase its market share. However, cutting of bigger diamonds has largely remained in Israel due to local expertise, the country’s industry leaders claim. The IDE and the IDI are investing more than $3 million in the new large-stone
manufacturing plant in the Ramat Gan bourse complex in an attempt to reinvigorate its polishing trade.

It will feature two cutting centers, spanning 1,100 square
meters, and will employ about 150 polishers. The organizations expect the
factory to yield thousands of polished stones per year from 5 carats upward.